Are teasels carnivorous?

josusa47

Last year I grew teasels from seed, hoping the bees and goldfinches would enjoy them.  They overwintered as rosettes, and now are growing up.  Today I noticed that the paired leaves are joined together at the base, and collect pools of water around the stem.  All sorts of small critters had drowned in them, snails, caterpillars.  I never knew this about teasels.  Not so beneficial to wildlife after all!  Now I'm wondering, do they digest their victims, like pitcher plants, or is it simply a defence, to keep themselves from being eaten?  Some of the leaves appear to have been munched.

DampGardenMan

Quite a few pieces on the Web that say "possibly" or "probably". Apparently the question was considered by Charles Darwin's son Francis. Me, I just note that birds like to drink from the "cups"!

wild edges

No idea but I do know the plants have a terrible habit of dumping the dead insect soup into your shoes if you brush past them. It seems to be a way that they can store water and tip it down onto their own roots as they sway in the wind. The insects might add some nutrients though I guess.

Dovefromabove

Marvellous plants ... love them 

Alan Clark2 in Liverpool

The reason that carnivorous plants catch insects is that they grow in boggy conditions where nutrients are leached out of the soil, but insects provide an alternative source. Teasels grow in ordinary soil so they don't actually need to catch insects, but perhaps they can digest them anyway. The ability to digest insects evolved from their ability to defend themselves from fungi - they are both made of chitin.